


in 24 hours

by khalasaar



Series: in two days [1]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/F, F/M, anyway I'm trash, but oh god, i am trash, jesus christ - Freeform, look honestly I cry every time i look at this i hope its acceptable because i think its ADORABLE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 18:10:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5258609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khalasaar/pseuds/khalasaar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley Matthew's first day at a new school goes weird in so many ways it's impossible to keep track of.</p><p>(aka: maya is queen bee and there's sOooOOoOo much sexual tension n gossip and a lot of maya using californian slang, which, god bless, and then kidnapping but in a good way)</p>
            </blockquote>





	in 24 hours

Riley Matthews shows up two minutes after first period starts, out of breath, fear rollicking in her chest, and slams open the door to the classroom without thinking.

“Ms. Matthews?”

She freezes.

“Are you Riley?” Very slowly, she turns to look at the teacher’s desk, where a surprisingly young woman with spiky black hair is sitting in the high-backed chair, eyebrows raised expectantly, her teeth showing in a tiny, amused smirk. Riley stares at her, frozen. Her heart is pulsing rapid-fire in her chest, threatened by the utterly silent but student-filled classroom, the weirdly cool-looking teacher, the first-day-nerves... the thirty pairs of eyes that are fixed on her standing, paralyzed, in the doorway.

_Goooooood damnit. I told you, Mom._

“Yes,” she says finally. The teacher’s smile widens. “Yeah, I am. Sorry.” She shakes her head and straightens up, pulling her books to her chest and summoning a smile from God-knows-where. The teacher starts to scribble something in her notebook, and Riley is almost glad that she takes so long to do it. There’s nothing she’s dreading more than turning around to see who will ignore her for the rest of the year.

“I’m Ms. Burgess,” the teacher says, standing up, “but you can call me Harper.”

“Really?” Riley blurts, eyes wide in surprise.

“Yeah,” Harper says, laughing. “And this is the English 10 class.” She gestures to the kids, and Riley is forced to turn and look, a tentative smile playing across her face. “We have no idea what we’re doing, so don’t worry about being behind. And I know they look scary, but they don’t bite, mostly.”

They do look scary. A sea of faces stare out at her, only a couple of them smiling - a nice-looking athletic boy in the middle row and a smaller, smarter-looking one next to him. Everyone else is snickering, whispering to each other across the aisles in a way that makes her skin crawl, but Riley tries to commit a few faces to memory, at least the ones that look nicest.

And the face of one girl in the front row, who staring at her so confidently, Riley feels this might be considered “eye-fucking”.

Harper is talking, but, um, holy shit. The girl is _so_ hot. 

She sits like someone who knows what she’s doing - arms crossed, legs outstretched, unafraid to take up room. She has dirty-blonde hair that spins itself in frustratingly perfect curls almost halfway down her back, rosy lips curved into a daring smirk, and blue-blue-blue eyes that Riley just can’t stop looking into. She _looks_ like the girls have picked on Riley all her life, and has the air of someone who has the whole school in her grip, but _goddamn_ , the eye contact doesn’t lie - and when Riley’s mouth falls open a little bit, the blonde smiles in return, her whole face rearranging itself to fit a smirk so pretty that Riley goes temporarily blind.

“Harper, I don’t know if she heard you.” _Holy. Shit._ The girl has a voice so rich and dark it makes her, impossibly, seem even hotter - but she’s looking away now, and Riley feels the absence of those blue eyes on her like she’d feel a hole in her foot. 

Then it hits. _Oh. She’s talking about me._

“Oh my God,” Riley squeaks. The blood rushes to her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I-”

“No worries. I’m sure it’s as much Maya’s fault as yours.” Harper raises an eyebrow, simultaneously teasing and threatening, at the blonde. Maya only responds with a smile. “I was asking where you wanted to sit. Your desk isn’t in yet, so you’ll have to share with the extra chair over there.”  
Maya’s hand shoots up. _Oh no._

“I’ll take her.” The smirk on her face is barely suppressed, although Riley’s sure the surprise on hers is even more obvious. When Harper gives the blonde an unsure look, she rests her face in her hands, flutters her eyelashes, and pouts dramatically. “Please?”

“Might be a good way to work on those impulse control issues,” Harper mutters, and Riley almost chokes. “Is that okay?”

She nods, dazed.

Maya leans over, hooks the extra chair with her foot, pulls it over to her (their?) desk and pats it expectantly. Riley steps over, quickly and gingerly takes her seat, and tries to squash the butterflies in her stomach. 

It doesn’t work. Especially when Maya says, as innocently as possible - “Oh. You weren’t gonna sit on my lap?”

Riley freezes.

“Just kidding. Don't flip, honey." That infuriating smile flashes over Maya’s face again; she raises an eyebrow and opens her book, turning away, and Riley’s brain devolves into a screaming, embarrassed mess. 

Even her intent staring contest with the desk won’t remove the furious blush from her face. 

The rest of the class passes, and Riley knows that she’s keeping up - but mostly it’s just waiting for the next time she can sneak a glance at Maya, or the next time their knees will brush again, or the next time Maya’s hair will slip over her shoulders, and Riley can watch the way it ripples and moves.

The butterflies aren’t going anywhere.

##### * * *

The two boys from English pick her up for lunch as soon as classes end. Riley is so relieved she could cry, but instead she just thanks them profusely, and follows them to the lunch room trying to hide her smile.

“So, you’re from New York?” Lucas picks up an apple and rolls it onto his tray. If Riley were into guys, he would totally be her type - short golden hair, bright blue eyes, a wide smile and a body that looks like it’s been carved from marble. Beyond that, he’s sweet and has been holding up their end of the conversation so well that Riley is almost intimidated. God bless nice boys. “That’s pretty far.”

“Really far,” Riley corrects, grinning. Then the smile slips from her face an inch. “I miss it a lot. But I’m sure California’s nice, too.”

“Well, I love it. But I guess I wouldn’t know any different,” Lucas teases.

“You must be dying in the heat,” Farkle comments from behind them. Riley isn’t exactly sure what to make of him, but he’s bubbly and Lucas likes him, so he’s good in her book. If his idea of fun is teaching people about molecular structure, go him.

“Oh my God, yes.” Riley presses a hand to her chest dramatically. “It’s like a billion degrees out here. I don’t know how you guys don’t melt.”

“You get used to it. The first summer will probably kill you, though.” Lucas smiles to himself, and the three of them find a table at the edge of the cafeteria. Riley is halfway through her mac and cheese when Lucas leans over and whispers conspiratorially, “You know, California’s pretty liberal.”

Riley pauses chewing and looks at him, confused. “Yeah, I guess I knew that.” She swirls a fork in her food uncomfortably. “Why?”

“Well, I mean.” Lucas shrugs. “You and Maya.”

Riley chokes.

“Did I say something?” Lucas’ eyes go huge. “I mean, I totally didn’t mean to be offensive, it just looked like-”

“Nono, it’s fine,” Riley assures him, trying not to hack up a lung. “I mean, thanks, that’s good to know. But I just thought - I mean, she’s gay?” Even saying it makes her heart thrum for some reason; Riley shifts her legs around under the table. To the left, she can see Maya surrounded by people - girls and boys who hang on her every word, dazzled by the smirk that never seems to leave her face. She watches how comfortable the blonde is, how obviously well loved, and feels a pang of jealousy as well as adoration. “She’s - uh-”

“A legend,” Farkle jumps in. “I don’t know how it is in New York, but here, she’s HBIC.”

“HBIC?”

“Head bitch in charge,” Lucas offers.

“Anyway, she has been since, like, 8th grade.” Farkle, as it turns out, knows a surprising amount of high school politics. “But it’s weird, because, like, it’s totally for all the right reasons. She’s sweet, she’s smart, super badass. The teachers hate her because she can convince anyone to boycott anything. She likes to play around with boys, but I don't think she really /likes/ them, yknow?"

Riley tries to act uninterested. "Play around?" 

"She kisses and tells," Lucas says mildly. 

"She's so hot that every boy in the school fell in love with her on accident and she never comes out because they do her homework for her," Farkle corrects. Then he puts his hands up in surrender. "But like, I don't think it's on purpose."

"Huh." Across the room, Maya stands up, somehow managing to make even _that_ seem magical; she moves so confidently that she becomes fluid, swinging her hips like a dancer and sliding off the bench so slinkily that Riley feels like she probably needs to be re-baptized. "You guys are friends with her?"

Farkle side-eyes Lucas. "Yeah, kinda."

"Kinda?"

"Lucas was her longest boyfriend," Farkle says. "Lasted a solid two months." He slaps Lucas on the back as if congratulating him, but Lucas' face is twisted in a grimace that says he'd rather be reprimanded. "So they have a weird history. It was way back when we were freshman, so the wounds are closed, but I think we only got over it as sophomores last year."

"She broke it off?" Riley asks.

"She always does," Lucas mutters.

"I'm sorry," she starts, but Lucas just shakes his head and smiles.

"It's fine," he says, and the grin on his face _does_ seem genuine. "She's way over me, so I should be too. And honestly, I think she's using all the boys here as one giant beard because she's terrified of coming out." Lucas shrugs helplessly, and Riley watches the way he stirs his soup with nausea building in her stomach. Eventually, he meets her eyes, and the look on his face is something sad and wistful and overall confusing. He shrugs again. "I just feel bad for the next boy she uses."

Riley's knee jerks nervously. _Me too,_ she says in her head. _Me too._

##### * * *

The next class they have together is 7th period chemistry, and Riley walks in dead set on crushing _their_ chemistry completely. With her entourage trailing behind, she picks a front row table, slams into a seat and makes sure that Lucas takes the chair next to her before Maya - sauntering through the door in a cheerleading uniform that makes Riley want to pass out - can steal it. Instead, the blonde takes a chair behind her, and Riley leans closer to Lucas with curiosity burning in her stomach.

"Is she a cheerleader?" she whispers furiously.

Lucas snorts and opens his mouth to talk, but something brushes Riley's shoulder, and she whips around to fend it off. Except it’s not a fly. Instead, she finds herself pausing an inch from Maya's frustratingly gorgeous freckle-dusted face, dangerously close to the smirk that breaks apart her lips.

"Nope. Don't believe in organized sports," Maya informs her. She’s propped up comfortably on her elbows, gaze curious and amused. "I just like the outfits." She winks, dangerously, and Riley almost dies. She can certainly see why - Maya is probably the prettiest cheerleader she's ever seen, with miles of legs, a perfectly fitting uniform, and that long blonde hair half-pulled back with a blue bow - but she bites her lip to keep from blurting anything stupid. 

"So what team do you play for?" 

Maya's eyes sparkle with amusement; she jerks her head toward Lucas. "Huckleberry hasn't told you already?" 

"He said it was his," Riley says slowly, "but I don't know if I believe him."

"Oh, really?" Maya laughs in a way that sends tingles down her spine. "Then whose is it?"

"Mine," Riley answers.

Maya's eyes widen, and she leans forward, close and daring, until Riley's heart is jackhammering in her throat. Her whole face lights up with danger. "Is that an invitation?"

But then the bell rings. The teacher stands up. And Riley sits through the whole lecture ramrod-straight, frozen in place, trying and failing not to think about what it was like to have Maya's lips so close to hers.

##### * * *

"You got it baaaaad," Lucas sings as he skips through the hallway, sliding around on shoes that squeak every time he moves. " _So_ bad." 

"Shut up," Riley laughs. She stops to open her locker, reading the combination off where she printed it on her wrist, and starts to talk knowing that Lucas is on his way over. "Okay, but really, what was that?"

"The biggest flirt fest I've ever seen?" Lucas offers.

"Are you serious?" Riley slams her locker open. "She was totally teasing me." 

"Being an asshole is her signature move. Surprisingly, it works every time."

"I thought only guys did that." 

"Well, she nailed it."

"Okay, and how do I get her to stop? Or, okay. Maybe not stop. How do I-"

"Win?"

Riley beams. "Yeah. That." 

"Well, keep it up until she breaks, I guess. She's obviously interested. But you gotta get her alone." 

"Okay, not hard."

"Harder than it looks."

"Fine, you pessimist." Riley sticks out her tongue.

"Just being realistic. But, okay - don't tell anyone I said this - trust me, she's nicer than she looks. A little rough around the edges, but it's the classic bad-boy-uses-bad-assery-to-cover-up-deep-psychological-wounds, or something." Lucas looks down after he says this, as if embarrassed, but just then Maya comes blowing around the corner, and Riley is temporarily struck too breathless to confront him. She's switched the cheerleader outfit for an open-backed black dress and heels, and her hair is a blonde storm around her face in the best way possible. She has her backpack slung carelessly over her shoulder, walking alone but making it somehow seem cool. She's frowning at her phone as she walks, but her head snaps up when she passes Riley and Lucas - a smile immediately breaks out across her face, and she bounds over in a few quick strides. 

"You guys coming tonight?" Her face is a completely different type of gorgeous without that signature smirk, something placid and otherworldly. "Oh. Does she know?"

"Charlie Gardner is having a party tonight," Lucas explains. "Yeah, I'm going. Riley, you're totally invited if you want. Charlie's nice, he wouldn't care."

"You should totally come," Maya offers. Riley is still stunned by the way she looks when not being an asshole. "It's gonna be hella fun. You can hitch a ride with me if you  
want."

Riley realizes with a start that she seems _nervous_. Maya is chewing a hole through her bottom lip, and while they're still sticking to the weirdly intense eye contact thing, Riley can see the flicker of uncertainty. She smiles brightly. "Yeah, that'd be great, thanks." 

"No problem. I gotta run, but I can grab you around 7 if that's good?" Riley nods, and Maya breaks into a sheepish smile. "Okay, awesome. Don't kill her, Ranger Rick." With that, she whirls around and disappears down the hallway in a cloud of black fabric and blonde hair. 

"Does she usually change outfits three times a day?" Riley asks.

"I think she's going out of her way to impress you," Lucas says. "Also, did you notice she just invited you to a party? And she's picking you up?"

"Okay, and?"

"Come on."

"Okay, fine. It's pretty cool." 

"Very cool." Lucas grins. "See you tonight?"

"I have nothing to wear," Riley says desperately.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Lucas says, and, with a salute, starts to walk off backwards. "Lemme know if you need anything?"

Riley nods yes, and, as soon as he disappears, lets out a scream of happiness into her locker.

##### * * *

"You usually a party girl?"

"No, not really. I mean, I like them. We just didn't have many for some reason." Riley taps her fingers against the window. They're cruising down the 105 in Maya's car, the radio booming something slow and full of bass, while the landscape flies past in black and blue and green; the sun has just set and thrown everything into negative color. There's so much open space it hurts Riley's brain. "It's beautiful, huh?" 

"I love it here." A smile creeps over Maya's face, warmer and more pure than all the ones before it. "My mom moved us out of the country for a year, and I got so depressed we had to come back after 6 months. It hurt so bad to leave, I can't even imagine living anywhere else, or why you would want to. Variety of nature, perfect weather, lots of culture and history. Plus we have the best Mexican food ever."

"Better than Mexico?"

Maya nods, suppressing a smile. "Have you been exploring?"

"No," Riley laughs guiltily. "I know I should, but it's been so busy."

"I get it. But hey, I should take you down to Santa Cruz sometime." 

“Santa Cruz?”

“Oh my God.” Maya mimes braining herself on the steering wheel. “Only the best town this side of the world. Boardwalk, beaches, dole whip, rollercoasters, a place with donuts so good it’s better than sex.” Her eyes light up, and the car speeds up ever so slightly. “Oh, wait. Dude. You wanna go?”

“Sorry?” She couldn’t possibly have heard that right.

“Like, do you wanna go?” Maya gestures to the open road: the pavement rushing away beneath them, the road signs overhead, the lights glittering all around them. Riley grips her seatbelt. “It’s only an hour or two away. We could totally ditch Gardner’s party and go there for the night.”

“Um - I-” Riley splutters. She sucks in a deep breath and tries to slow the endless rolling of her brain. “Okay, wait. Wouldn’t we not have time to go there, explore and come back?”

“Oh, we’d get a hotel,” Maya says, as if she does this every weekend. “It _is_ a Friday. I save everything from my job for days like these, so I have enough cash to make it fun. But if this is weird because I only met you twelve hours ago, I totally get it.”

Riley is sorely tempted.

Riley, who has never stayed out past curfew, gotten below a B+, or broken a rule in her life, is suddenly filled with the urge to run to Santa Cruz with this crazy stranger and forget about everything else.

“Can I call my parents first?” she asks, wincing.

“Go ahead,” Maya grins, and Riley calls her mom. Topanga picks up on the first ring, and Riley leans halfway out the window and makes sure Maya isn’t looking before she hisses, “I met this girl.”

“Honey, that’s great!’

“No, you don’t understand.” She sideeyes Maya nervously. “No, like, she wants to go to Santa Cruz.”

“With you? Isn’t that a couple hours away?”

“Yes and yes. And, um, we would have to get a hotel.”

“Do you trust her?”

Riley pauses.

“Yeah? I guess so?”

“Well, I already gave you the talk for both sexes, so I guess if you-”

“Okay! Okay, that’s all I needed. Thank you, Mom. Love you.” She hangs up as quickly as possible. Maya looks over at her. Her fingers are drumming nervously over the steering wheel, and she has both eyebrows raised in a question.

“We good?” she asks.

“Awesome,” Riley says, and watches the smile break across her face as Maya nods happily and turns up the radio, loud enough that Riley can feel the bass in her feet, loud enough to make her feel like she’s in a movie, and here, now, the whole world is theirs.

##### * * *

They stop at a plaza near San Jose to get snacks and In-n-Out, something which is so important that, when Maya heard it wasn’t on the east coast, almost caused a six-car pileup. She’s so different on the road that Riley sort of doesn’t believe it. Maybe it’s the spontaneous trip, the freedom of the whole thing, or even the fact that they’re out of class. But as they whirl past town after town, passing miles of hills and turquoise coastline, Maya starts to seem more and more like a real person. She raps to every hip-hop song that comes on the radio and ends up breathless afterwards, but insists she was a rapper in a past life. She laughs at Riley’s jokes. She smiles instead of smirks. She tells Riley about how her dad walked out on her, about the sketches in her notebook, about how she stole the cheerleading uniform from a supply closet two years ago and has been using it as a weapon ever since. She asks Riley why she’s blurting all this out, a blush crawling up her cheeks, and then admit it’s kind of a relief to really talk instead of chatting. Riley, whose ribs hurt from laughing so hard, says it’s no problem at all.

They're at a booth inside the In-n-Out now, Maya sitting on the table and swinging her legs, raving on and on about how amazing their food will be when it finally comes. After a few minutes, their number is called, and Maya bolts there and back in record time, with a smile so big it looks like it's about to break her face. “It can’t be really be _that good,_ ” Riley says incredulously, shaking her head. 

“Blasphemy!” Maya retorts, slamming their tray onto the table. “I ordered the whole restaurant, just in case.”

“I can see.”

“Here, okay, look. Fries first. Animal-style.” She pops one in her mouth, and Riley is temporarily disabled by the way her jaw moves under her skin. “You gonna eat it or should I?”

“Sorry.” She pulls at one, trying to keep her fingers out of the sauce, and takes a deep breath before eating it. Then: “Um, holy wow.”

“Holy wow is right,” Maya agrees through a mouthful of food. 

They demolish a mountain of burgers and fries, all of which Riley grudgingly agrees is pretty damn good. Maya gets two milkshakes to go and then they raid the grocery store next door. By then, it’s already almost ten, but Riley is so hopped up on adrenaline and crush-hormones that she’s jittery all over and has no problem keeping up as Maya zooms around throwing things into a basket.

“Tell me you like Doritos,” she demands.

“Who doesn’t?” Riley asks, and Maya sags in exaggerated relief. Riley tags along as she surveys the aisles, happy to sit back and watch as the cart fills up. Even in the awful, fluorescent light, she manages to look beautiful - the light slicing into her cheeks, making a halo around her hair, lighting up the way her chest rises and falls she stares, transfixed, at whatever’s in her hands now. It’s well into the night, but she’s wearing shorts and oversize tshirt that were laying in the back of car, the maroon fabric slipping casually off her shoulder. Riley wonders how she does that. Remains so cool and calm in the storm of high school, with the storm inside her, assuming she has one. Almost everyone does.

“Done staring?” Maya asks lightly.

“Oh.” Riley blinks furiously, the realization hitting her brain. “Oh. Yeah, I mean. You’re just beautiful.”

Maya looks like she just got hit by a truck.

“Sorry, was that weird? I mean, I thought-”

“Riles, it’s fine.” Maya brushes past her coolly, and Riley feels the sting of it all over, crawling into her bloodstream. (Along with the fact that she already has a nickname!)

“No, okay, but really-” Riley grabs her arm and pulls her back. She’s unsure what to say, but knows it’s better to have Maya trapped, so that they’re face to face, so that she can feel Maya’s breath grazing her cheeks, can see the nervousness under those bright blue eyes. 

Why? God knows.

“What’s with us?” she asks

“I’ve only known you for-” Maya checks her phone. “Fourteen hours.”

“And we’re on a road trip to Santa Cruz.”

Maya grimaces.

“Is this you? Or is the girl from English you?” Maya’s eyes light up, and slowly, a smile curves at one side of her lips.

“Both,” she says confidently. Riley’s heart stutters. “I’m allowed to be both.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t.”

“You were thinking it.”

Riley shrugs helplessly.

“What can I say?” Maya bats her eyelashes, curls her mouth into a sweet smile so that her whole face shines, gorgeous and innocent. “You’re fun to mess with.”

She steps back, winks, and saunters away to pay.

##### * * *

They arrive at Santa Cruz half an hour later, and by then, Riley has decided that maybe Maya is just confusing. Not two people, not manipulative - just confusing, and probably confused. A myriad of things, of emotions, of personalities. Car-Maya is the one that comes out around her friends, the one that Farkle described to her earlier, and English-Class-Maya is the girl who’s just doing her damn best to stay afloat in high school. She voices this aloud as they pull into the boardwalk parking lot, mostly how to see how Maya will respond.

She shrugs.

“You’ve got me all figured out, huh?” A smile is on her lips, but it seems faint and almost sad. “Good job, Riley.”

“Riles, isn’t it?”

Then the smile flashes genuinely. “Sorry. Riles.”

They stumble out of the car, love-drunk, laughing. Outside it’s pleasantly chilly, with a faint breeze whispering off the coast, and Riley has to take a minute to look around, because nothing has ever been this stunning. On her right the waves crash in their endless loop, beating a dark-gold coast littered with tiny, pin-sized people; ahead of them the boardwalk stretches out for miles, the wood filled with swirling crowds and tents holding food and games, rollercoasters that fold over on themselves, a ferris wheel glittering with cold white fairy lights. The breath leaves her chest all at once.

“Oh, wow.”

Maya smiles.

“Maya, it’s, um - it’s gorgeous.” 

“I know, right?” She grabs Riley’s hands, interlacing their fingers, and it feels so familiar that Riley isn’t even surprised. The smile on her face is so pretty it’s heartbreaking. “Let’s go.”

It turns out Maya is mostly there for the food. They stop at the first rollercoaster and then at every single one of the food stands clustered around it - funnel cakes, dole whip, cherry slushies, corn dogs - which Maya happily wolfs down while Riley loses game after game in the arcade section. No matter how many times Riley’s dart doesn’t hit a balloon, Maya digs change out of her pocket to pay for another round, until the attendant takes pity on them and gives Riley a stuffed pig. They repeat this for hours, telling jokes, wasting money, eating themselves sick, until Riley gets stuck on a throwing game that makes her want to pull her hair out. The attendant seems to be amused instead of sympathetic, and Maya’s already blown twenty bucks on it, but there’s a dolphin plush that has Riley’s name all over it.

Riley is pacing outside the stall, hands all tangled up in her hair and muttering under her breath, when Maya finally throws her food on a nearby bench and whispers, “Watch this.”

She puts both hands on Riley’s waist and kisses her. 

Um, holy shit.

It’s nothing at all like the tame kisses Riley has had with boys in her class, like her first one back in 8th grade, or even ones from her last boyfriend. Maya tastes like cotton candy and very obviously knows what she’s doing. Maya tastes like sugar and is kissing her so hard and so perfectly that Riley feels herself stumbling backward, feels a delirious pleasure tingling through her bloodstream, feels her skin burning where Maya’s hands are planted under her shirt. 

Has it only been sixteen hours?

Maya pulls back, trailing her fingers across Riley’s jaw, and pouts sympathetically. She gives one strategic look to the awe-struck game attendant, then shifts her gaze back to Riley, her eyes sparkling with satisfaction. “All better?”

Riley nods furiously.

“Would you two like a prize?” the attendant offers meekly. 

“Oh, well. I don’t like to cheat, but she’s been trying really hard,” Maya confesses, gesturing at Riley.

“Oh, no, I totally get it.” The attendant smiles nervously, unhooking the dolphin from the top row and passing it over.

“Oh my gosh, thank you!” Maya gushes. She takes it with a wide smile, kisses Riley on the cheek, says another thanks, and then drags her away before Riley can say anything. When they stop a few yards away, breathless and exhilarated, she hands it over, not even bothering to hide the flirtatious grin on her face. “You like?”

“Love,” Riley squeals, hugging it to her chest. “Although I have to say,” she admits, giving Maya a sober look, “that kiss was probably enough of a prize.”

Maya smirks.

##### * * *

They end up on the beach. Riley thinks that she can feel the tide in her chest, right next to her heartbeat. Maya’s flipflops have been thrown to the side, and she’s sitting in the sand with her knees pulled to her chest, the wind tousling her curls while Riley eats her way through a dole whip float. Its a little past one am, and there is something about the night that feels impossibly important.

“So,” Riley finally says, stabbing her ice cream, “you never did tell me what team you play for.”

Maya snorts.

“What?”

“Nothing. But, I mean.” The blonde rakes a hand through her hair, sending off a shower of golden sand. “I thought it was obvious.”

“I’m getting mixed signals.”

“I’m gay. And that’s fine. But girls who like girls, they don’t do well in high school.” Maya’s face twists into a frown. “And I’m not going to college, so this is kind of my last hurrah. I can’t fuck it up. I gotta float on this popularity thing as long as I can. Cause after that...” she draws a line across her throat. “Bleh.”

“You don’t want to go to college?”

“Oh, I do. But I’m a straight-C art student, and my mom works two jobs just to keep our apartment. Not that I’m not bitter or anything. It’s the way things are.”

“You could change it,” Riley offers.

“Better not to get my hopes up.”

“Hmph.” Riley puts aside her ice cream and leans back on her elbows. “I’m sure we could figure something out.”

“We?”

“Yeah. Me and you?” Riley raises her eyebrows. “I know I’ve only known you for seventeen hours, but, at the risk of sounding crazy, I think I’m in it for the long run.”

Maya laughs. “Me too, honey.”

“So I’m not crazy, then?”

“Or maybe we both are.”

“More likely,” Riley concedes. “So, anyway. No boys?”

“No boys. A lot of beards, but no boys, not really.”

“Any girls?”

“So far? Not really.”

“Except for-”

“Yeah, honey. Except for you.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“What was that kiss about?”

“Free stuffed animals.” Maya pauses. “And me wanting to kiss you.”

“Aha!”

“Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?”

“I totally did.”

“Me too.”

Riley fights a grin. “So. The long run?”

“Totally,” Maya says, and kisses her, and they start the long run by kissing for a long, long time.

##### * * *

Riley wakes her up at 8:07 the next morning.

“Happy 24 hours!” she says.

Maya groans. “We did the long run?”

Riley grabs her hand. “We just started.”

**Author's Note:**

> LISTEN: if y'all want me to write something specific send me a message @ philtaatos.tumblr.com with requests/prompts/whatever!! I'd totally love it


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